"Gu Xiao, I'm going to go home now. I need to go walk my cactus." Zhang Yongyin smiled and skipped away.
The sun gradually set, and daylight grew weak. Long shadows of trees stretched throughout the basketball court and the fresh winter breeze washed the empty classroom with a dissolving coolness.
"Hey, Gu Xiao! Want to play basketball?" a group asked.
"I can't. I'm on cleaning duty," he said.
"Alright, alright. Have fun."
Some left for club activities, some headed back home to study, while some hung around the library to study, waiting for the evening study class to open, so they could study. Because what else would they do in evening study class?
Gu Xiao was not a part of these groups that were currently relaxing, for he was standing in this empty classroom cluttered with fallen books, leaves, and dirt, holding a mop.
"Why am I on cleaning duty the first day back?" he sulked and leaned his chin on the mop's stick, swaying from left and right.
The wind swept the leaves into the classroom and Gu Xiao peered at the sudden burst of leaves with burning pupils.
"You leaves are a menace to my life."
The door slid open and Lan Yuning stood at the entrance.
"Oh, student president. What are you doing here?" Gu Xiao smiled.
"Cleaning," he said with the same soft tone and walked in with a mop in his hand. Although he always had an apathetic expression, his voice was somewhat soothing to listen to. Perhaps it was because it was quiet and didn't pierce people's ear unlike a certain someone.
The orange leaves scattered on the ground caught his eyes and he asked, "Did you mop without cleaning the leaves?"
"These leaves just flew in just now. I was going to brush them away, but you just happened to walk in before I found the effort to move."
"You should've closed the windows."
"Yeah, yeah, my bad."
Gu Xiao skipped to the window and shut it tightly before quickly brushed the leaves away once again. "Are you on cleaning duty as well?"
He nodded and started mopping the corner.
"Wait, did Big Bear ask you to clean with me? Is this what he meant by making you watch me? Don't you need to head to tutorials?"
"No. You can check the cleaning schedule."
"Alright, alright. I believe you, don't worry."
Just by taking one glance at Lan Yuning, Gu Xiao remembered an event that occurred earlier today and something lit in his head. Since it was only the two of them in the room, he had to take action and help his dear deskmate.
"Wait here, I'll quickly go get something," Gu Xiao beamed and, without wasting any more time, he dashed out of the classroom. Lan Yuning watched the back disappear in a flash and continued to silently clean the classroom by himself.
———
After a short while, Gu Xiao ran back into the classroom and wore the largest smile. Lan Yuning jolted when he suddenly popped back in. All this racket and noise always followed Gu Xiao everywhere he went.
Did peace and quietness ever exist if he was around? The only time that brought upon quietness was when he was sleeping, but the teachers didn't want him to sleep. So did that mean he was supposed to deal with such noise every day?
"Student president, here."
Gu Xiao handed Lan Yuning a small pink drink that was branded with a cow logo. Seeing that the student president was just staring at the drink like he was looking at a poisonous antidote, Gu Xiao slung his arm over Lan Yuning's shoulder, waving the drink around with an aloof expression.
"I'm giving this strawberry milk to you because I consider you to be a good classmate to me. I drink this every time I experience a break up. I guarantee it will make you feel better since you look so so so bitter right now."
Only an expression of bewilderment spread across Lan Yuning's face, but his confused face was just slightly separating his lips while his bitter hazel eyes remained the same, unwavering and unmoving.
"Don't be so upset about it alright? I know you might not like me but I am not inhumane. My mouth will be completely shut after I leave this classroom so don't worry. In seventy years' time, you won't even remember her face. Do you know why? Because you will have Arhaizimo's [1] and be too busy trying to remember other things!"
Lan Yuning blinked twice. "I will have what?"
"Don't you know? Ar—hai—zi—mo."
"... You mean Alzheimer's?"
"Oh, sounds the same."
Lan Yuning eyed the smiling boy up and down.
"...I don't like strawberry..."
Gu Xiao withdrew his arm back. "Well, if you don't want it, then I'll drink it. It's your loss alright?"
Without waiting for Lan Yuning to say anything, he laughed mischievously to himself and quickly devoured the entire drink in seconds, not leaving a single drop in the bottle.
"What a good dinner," he muttered to himself and burped, patting his stomach twice.
"Keep cleaning so we can both go home."
Gu Xiao sighed, "How stiff."
"Don't you want to go home faster?"
"That's true."
Gu Xiao grabbed the mop and aggressively ran in circles, jumping and dashing around the floor. There was truly not even a moment of peace if Gu Xiao was around.
By the time Gu Xiao came back from the vending machine, Lan Yuning actually already finished cleaning his area and reorganized the shelves.
Strangely, he kept mopping the same area. Over and over again.
[1] Gu Xiao is speaking in English and Lan Yuning corrects him in English.